Placophobia

[Gwydion]

PLACOPHOBIA
Fear of tombstones. Jagged claws of crumbling stone thrusting through tear-soaked moss.

In bottle: Mmm… Exactly what it says in the description. The moss is strongest lying on a bed of moist earth, but the stone pokes through, with the faintest kiss of salty aquatics. Wet: Way more subtle on the skin. The stone accord now sings, surprisingly dominant. The rich moss and loam support the stone giving its place in the spotlight. I'd swear there were granite and sandstone both here. The salty kiss is the faintest of accent, but lovely with the moss. This is unusual. It is hard to get stone accord to sing and dance like this even for a short time, even with such a lovely setting for it. Dry: Moss dominant with a hint of stone and dirt.

[Trickster]

In the bottle: dirt & moss with a hint of something sharp on top.

 

Wet: Reminds me a lot of Zombi, but without the strong rose scent. Wet upturned earth and green moss.

 

Dry: Still a sweet wet soil with just a hint of funereal flowers laid against a rain-soaked gravestone.

 

This is definitely my favourite of the Phobias, but I am a huge sucker for dirt scents!

[welcometothefamily]

In The Bottle: WOW. This actually blows my mind....it smells EXACTLY like dirt flecked moss, and cold, wet stone.

 

Wet: Still rocking the dirt flecked moss. But now it's more like STONE with a tiny bit of moss growing on it. And wow this blend is cold. You know when you sniff mint and the back of your throat goes cold? This is like that, except not as intense. Doesn't smell minty though. I think I might actually really like this.

 

10 mins: Damn this is good!

 

Drydown: Still smells like dirt, but this isn't a harsh, DRY, dusty dirt note like Burial, this is soft, moist, dirt after its been raining. Still smelling the mossy stone in the background too, and SOMETHING in this is translating as slightly rosy to my nose. Maybe someone has left a single faded, white rose next to this grave in remembrance.

 

Verdict: I love this. This is the earthy blend I've been looking for. It's very gentle, not harsh at all. Lovers of burial, check this out!

 

4.5/5

 

Note: I am a foody girl normally, so people who like earthy perfumes but can't normally wear them should try a decant of this. You might be surprised!

[fiddlehead]

Can't add anything more, really! Awesome soil/moss/stone scent. Zombi is probably my fave BPAL ever and this is very much in the same vein. No roses, though. There have been times when I wished Zombi had no rose, so Placophobia is a big ol' WIN for me. I also loved Graveyard Dirt but GD disappeared so fast. Placophobia has lasted several hours on me. I might have to have another bottle of this so I can slather

[Zii]

This is graveyard dirt plus. I thought I loved that scent more than anything, and this comes along. It has exactly the same dirt note, plus something a little salty in with the moss and something not unlike dried rose.

 

Get me a bottle of this asap.

[lamenteuse]

On me, this is wet dirt and moss. Not just, "Oh, I can picture some dirt and it might smell a little green," this is really just the smell of dirt. I'm wearing it right now and it smells like I rolled around in the dirt prior to going to work.

Personally, this is not my kind of sent; I was really hoping for some lovely stony scent like Dungeon Crawl, but this just dirt and moss.

 

Wear it if you love dirt, but not if you want stone.

[delicatedisaster]

(This is straight from the mailbox, so take it with a grain of salt. Also, this is a pretty fanciful review for me, I don't usually get a "picture" but this one is tied to scent memory for me.)

 

Moss! That was the note I couldn't place.(Thanks other reviewers, it's been killing me) Upon smelling this in the bottle I was confused. I mean, I read the description, but I don't know, it didn't smell the way I imagined it would smell. This continued once I applied it, and for a while afterwards. However, I finally realized that the confusion was due to the fact that it really does smell exactly like wet stone. It's strange. I knew it would, and yet I was still surprised. It's been a while since I smelled wet stone rather than wet asphalt and in my opinion, this is a particular kind of wet stone. When Beth says tombstone she means, it eh? I definitely picture a big, solid light gray stone (probably granite) and I wouldn't have thought about it otherwise, but she's right, stones have different scents as well.

 

It made me feel like a little kid explorer again, back when trees and bramble and dampness and dirt weren't an issue and I would climb anywhere and everywhere. I think the moss and stone together make this read as a "clean" scent. Actually, thinking about it, that's exactly the smell. I used to collect moss and try to grow it in a little pot because moss is beautiful and soft, and just a little bit magical. (This is entirely possible fyi, and had I devoted more time to it, I'm sure you could have a beautiful miniature garden of moss) This smells exactly like when you're walking in the woods and you come across a particularly beautiful clearing. There's a large piece of stone, kept damp and quiet by the moss, so delicate and still. If you lean in close to get a better look, this is what you would smell. There's that tiny bit of dirt that is held there by the moss as well.

 

On first application I was a little overwhelmed by the smell, it doesn't smell like a perfume at all on me (and I've been on the Bpal for a while so I think my definition of perfume is pretty broad at this point) but now, several hours later, it has dried down and I find the scent very comforting and grounding. It seems clean and reverent. But then again, I'm one of those people that feel old graveyards and wet stones and moss experienced all by one's lonesome are basically religious experiences. I think this would be very very cool layered with another scent as well. Like a particular ghost's signature scent+ the graveyard they inhabit.

 

P.S. I hope this was helpful? I'm a little ramble-y tonight.

P.S.S. I will concede that I may not be able to pick out the difference between wet stone and moss and dirt since the two are intertwined in my head.

Edited October 19, 2013 by delicatedisaster

[patina]

Yep, that's dirt and moss alright. There's also a strong stone note on my skin. It's sort of airy and damp, if that makes any sense. I can see the resemblance to Zombi,except Zombi always smells desiccated to me and this is damp. Nice but a bit basic. I prefer Worm Moon for dirt.

[zankoku_zen]

Moss, sweet dirt, sort of damp and airy note (which I think is some sort of white floral I'm amping).

 

For those of you that like a 'dirt' blend, I'd give this a whirl.

[Redillon]

WOAH MOIST DIRT!!! It smells like my cubby hole underneath my parents house! I ploughed thru....as it warmed up on my arm the cloying dirt smell subsides and I'm left with something kind of pretty. Sort of floral but still mossy and green. It doesn't have a lot of throw and on my skin type doesn't last very long. I do like it but not enough for a bottle.

 

My husband and dad said it was nice from the bottle. They didn't get the heavy dirt scent like I do. maybe it's a guy thing.

[MCS4096]

For me, Graveyard Dirt dries down to smell very similar to sandalwood, whereas this blend becomes almost straight moss eventually. Moss becomes fairly "perfumey" on me, not in a bad way, but in a way that completely changes the vibe of this blend. This moss smells like an unidentifiable floral, almost rose-like as someone else mentioned. I also agree there is a bit of a salty kick. Not as much as in the recent Oakmoss SN, but yes this moss is a little salty too.

[thekittenkat]

In the bottle: The tear-soaked moss is covering the stone.

 

Wet: Getting the sharpness of the stone now. It's not a weathered stone, but as though a piece was just carved or broken.

 

The dry-down: A new tombstone, set in an old mossy bank, well-watered by tears. Like this very much.

[milo]

I'm getting the labs dirt note along with something that smells kind of herbal/chemical like. That fades, and we're left with herbal, dirt and stone. I do like the odd dirt blend, but this one is I'm just not digging. *sorry*

[Atrous]

This really is wet stone and dirt. It starts off similar to Graveyard Dirt but as it dries down there is less dirt and more stone plus dried out floral.

The thing that's odd is I'm getting a boozy note. Not sure what's causing that.

It's an odd scent, in a good way. I was afraid that this might end up like Zombi or Graveyard Dirt but this is a scent unlike those two. I'm very happy with this.

[KakashiMorph]

I love 13 hours and I love the lab's moss so I bought a bottle of this without any imp sniffing first.

 

In the bottle: My beloved moss! It's back again! There is also a dirty note to it which must be the wet stone. I love it already.

On my skin: From the very first seconds the moss takes me away on an amazing ride. The dirty rock lies hidden underneath but I am perfectly fine with that. I will just wait to see when it comes out to play. Even a few minutes later the stone doesn't really kick in.

Drydown: Moss. But I love moss so that is nice.

[vthesiren]

I definitely get stone, moss, and dirt from this, but something turned a bit too perfumey for my tastes and threatened to give me a headache. I normally like earthy blends, but this just wasn't for me.

[Little Bird]

Soft dirt and sour moss with a sharp, perfumey aquatic note. I think that sharp aquatic note is the 'tears' in the soaked moss. Winds up strangely sour and not dirty enough for me, actually.

[Dancing Raven]

Wet: Beetroot! To the point that I am hungry. 

On early drydown, I am detecting the vinegar smell of crumbling stone that was in The Chilling Cellar, only it's a bit stronger here. There is a hint of dry, dusty moss just beneath it that's taking the sour edge away. The lab's dirt note is there, but so far it's fairly light. I get an impression of something aquatic, but it's very slight, and it's not going detergent on me, so that's a big positive. 

It stays pretty linear with the tangy moss and slightly orris root-y dirt for hours. I wonder if there is yew in this, as sometimes it goes a bit sharp and piercing on me. At some point the moss takes on an almost white leatherish scent. I wish there were a little bit more of the dirt note to ground (no pun intended) the more high pitched vinegar - like stone and moss. I still can very faintly smell what I think is orris, and I think this would have been perfect if that came out stronger on my skin. I really like the lab's dirt/earthy/graveyard scents, but this one is a little too sharp for me. I think it would layer nicely with some of my oils that didn't have enough of a musty dungeon or graveyard note, so it isn't a total loss. This one is outlasting my bedtime, so I will update if it changes significantly, but I have a feeling that it isn't a morpher.

I think this is more along the lines of Grove Street Cemetery and The Chilling Cellar, rather than Zombi or Yorick. It's much more moss forward than dirt on my skin. Definitely worth getting if you amp (and enjoy) dirt scents.

3 out of 5 stars on my skin.

[HerbGirl]

I received a free bottle of this with a hefty order in the past and am really very grateful as I wasn't interested in it at the time. 

 

Definitely moss with an aquatic/salty lift, dirt (I swear there's a bit of a super dry patchouli in here), and a hint of floral which I am guessing is a lily. Zombie didn't work on me (I'm guessing the rose/moss was too much) but this is quite lovely. It definitely has a mood - and I am glad to have this generously gifted bottle to wear when I find myself in that mood. 

 

ETA Deep in Earth is the other 'similar' scent I've tried, and while I know I liked it better than Zombie, I can't remember it well enough to compare with this. 

Edited November 10, 2022 by HerbGirl